Dawn 6SP Cast Steel Bench Vice Restoration

By JC / 1 August 2024

Today I am refurbishing a Dawn 6SP cast steel engineer’s bench vice. Found in yellow:

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

It hasn’t had as hard a life as some other cast steel Dawns I have seen recently:

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

As is not uncommon, this one came with some free spiders:

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Mixed bolts used in the jaws – non-factory:

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

The socket head bolts took a 7/32″ Allen key. The screw had relatively little wear:

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

The removable nut had less squared-off edges than most of the contemporary Dawns I have seen:

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

The usual washer/spring/washer/split pin (the latter removed in the below pic) arrangement:

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Partway through stripping the paint – the surface finish of the cast steel is generally good:

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Jaws cleaned up:

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Painted:

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

Here is the restoration of a Dawn 6SP 150mm cast steel engineer's bench vice or vise, made in Australia prior to the mid-1970s.

As always, the vice got a light workout after restoration and like any of the Dawn 6″ vices it performed extremely well. I rather like the steel vices in use – they have a different feel to the cast iron vices when really tightening up – and it dealt well with the few tasks I threw at it.

Compared to the non-steel 6sp seen here, the text on the side is notably smaller and the casting shape is subtly different on both the dynamic and static jaws.

Check out some other Dawn refurbishments on the general tool reviews page.

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